Perez confident of F1 podium after “surprise” P4 at Monza

Sergio Perez says he’s looking forward to the fight for the Formula 1 podium after qualifying fourth for the Italian Grand Prix.

Perez starred in qualifying at Monza, beating the Red Bull of Max Verstappen to fourth and qualifying just behind the McLaren of Carlos Sainz.

The Mexican has finished on the podium on eight separate occasions in his F1 career and he’s confident he can capitalise on his strong starting position.

“It’s a good start for us tomorrow, so hopefully we can have a strong start. I think everything what we have done, we’ve been focusing a lot onto the race, so I think tomorrow we are definitely in the fight for the podium.

“We are surprised….we were not expecting this step in qualifying. Everything we have done has been focusing on the race, so we should be having strong race pace throughout the race.”

Racing Point went into the weekend expecting to struggle with its low downforce package, as it did at Spa last time out, but Perez is sure it can fight for a podium on Sunday.

“We were not so strong throughout the weekend,” added Perez. “I think the team has done a fantastic job, working our way through.

“They executed a fantastic qualifying, session by session we took some steps. To be up there in a good position means we can definitely be in the fight for the podium.”

Team-mate Lance Stroll is set to line up eighth and he wasn’t too satisfied with his showing.

“It was not so good,” Stroll said. There were definitely some positions lost out today, so frustrated about it. Where did he struggle? “Just putting it all together. [I made] mistakes. It was not a good session for us.”